Another reality is that Canada is putting a price on carbon, the nature of which is still being negotiated with the provinces. With national carbon pricing being the new reality, Opposition Leader Patrick Brown has written an open letter to Justin Trudeau indicating that Kathleen Wynne’s cap and trade law “does not have Ontario’s best interests at heart,” and requesting that Ontario cap-and-trade be removed from the Trudeau carbon pricing system. I’m not holding my breath on that one.

The problem with the provincial cap and trade tax and the federal price on carbon is that going electric is neither technologically nor economically feasible for most, thanks to the Ontario Liberal’s Green Energy Act. I also voted against that bill. The cap and trade tax system serves as a stick to try and modify behavior without offering a viable alternative and without a carrot to reward changes made, other than using the revenue for more subsidies for things like electric cars and Toronto transit.

As Ontario’s Official Opposition we have committed to dismantle the cap and trade system ever bearing in mind the federal government is mandating all provinces put a price on carbon.

On January 1, the province capped greenhouse emissions and will sell allowances to companies who have to exceed the cap. The province will lower the cap over time. Companies exceeding their cap can also buy additional allowances, or if they come in below their annual limit, can sell their emission allowances to other companies within a market comprised of Ontario, Quebec and California.

It is estimated Ontario businesses will be paying $300 million a year to California.

We maintain the government is so desperate to hike taxes, they have rejected a revenue-neutral plan – cap-and-trade money will disappear into general revenues.

Cap and trade has clearly not been designed to return money to those paying – it is a blatant $2 billion-a-year tax grab under the guise of environmentalism. It will seriously impact everyone’s pocket book. Oil refineries for example will pass their recovery costs of cap and trade to their customers at the pumps. It subtracts money from people, not only for gasoline, diesel, propane, natural gas, heating oil and aviation fuel but also for groceries, clothing and other consumer goods produced and delivered by carbon-fueled plant, equipment and transportation.

Ontario drivers are being treated like clowns.

Ontario’s Auditor General reports the cap and trade tax will cost families an extra $156 this year for gasoline and natural gas, rising to $210 by 2019. Added transportation costs for goods and services will be another $75 per household by 2019.

We are committed to dismantling the cap and trade scheme and the Green Energy Act. This is the best way to ensure people’s hard-earned money stays exactly where it should stay…in their pockets.

In conclusion, I ask you the reader – where do we go from here? There probably won’t be an election until June 2018 and this is the time to consult on policy.

Click me!

Provincially, the Ontario PC Party has committed to dismantle the Wynne cap and trade law, as well as the Green Energy Act. However, carbon pricing is now the reality in Canada and Ontario will be bound by the Trudeau price on carbon. For the Silo, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett.

Tax or No Tax? – Facts Still Matter in Ontario
Patrick Brown has done it again.

This time, not only has he spread misinformation across the province in an interview with CTV Ottawa, but he seems to be flip flopping on his one and only policy proposal – a carbon tax.

Facts Still Matter in Ontario, and Patrick Brown needs to stick to them.

He claimed: “Well, I don’t support raising taxes.”

Fact: Wrong – Patrick Brown supports a carbon tax.

Worse, he supports it despite knowing that independent, third-party experts have proven his carbon tax scheme would be more expensive and less effective than our plan to cap the pollution businesses can release into the atmosphere. Unlike his scheme, our approach guarantees emission reductions at the cheapest price possible for people and the economy.

Fact: Whether it’s voting against the Greenbelt Act, Great Lakes Protection Act, Places to Grow Act, the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-Carbon Economy Act or more, the Conservatives have a track record of doing more harm than good for Ontario’s environment.

He claimed: “Right now you’ve got a government that doesn’t monitor the infrastructure projects properly. The Auditor General said we could see giant cost overruns, because we don’t measure performance…”

Fact: Independent 3rd party organizations have confirmed that our infrastructure procurement model is successful, finding that 96% of our projects have been completed on budget. The AFP model we’ve implemented has also saved the province $6.6 billion. The Auditor General even recognized this in her report.

He claimed: “Mental health – you look at the short funding of mental health that municipalities have had to pick up because of the provincial Liberals”.

Fact: Our government continues to provide record mental health supports for people across the province. As part of Budget 2017, we built on our previous investments by expanding access to psychotherapy, supporting access to mental health and addictions services for post-secondary students and providing free prescription medications for those 24 years of age and younger through OHIP+.

It’s important to give credit where credit is due. So thank you Patrick for correctly stating our government’s infrastructure investment figure. At $190 billion it’s the largest infrastructure investment in the history of the province. And that’s a fact.

Over the weekend, Patrick Brown decided to go back to his roots and continue misleading Ontarians and the media about basic information. He needs to remember that Facts Still Matter in Ontario.

He claimed: “I’m not going to settle for an Ontario that’s a have not province…That gets equalization payments”

Fact: In 2016-17 Ontario paid $6.9 billion into the equalization program and only received $2.3 billion from it. In addition, according to the Mowat Centre, “Ontarians have consistently contributed more to the federal government in total tax revenue than they have received in federal spending in return.”

Fact: Wrong. Putting a cap on the pollution businesses can release into the atmosphere guarantees emission reductions at the cheapest price possible for people and the economy. It’s the best approach forward for Ontario. Every dollar generated will be deposited in a dedicated account and reinvested into green projects like transit, electric vehicle incentives and housing retrofits that fight climate change. This means every dollar goes back into helping families and businesses successfully make the transition to a low-carbon economy. As announced in June, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been reinvested.

Fact: Patrick Brown should also know that independent, third-party experts have proven his carbon tax scheme would be more expensive and less effective than our plan. Every dollar also goes back into helping families and businesses successfully make the transition to a low-carbon economy.